7 Faiths of the Founding Fathers - Perimeter Church

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A History of Christianity in America • Part VII: Faiths of the Founding Fathers 2(3)Rationalistic Theists (or Providential Deists).• A commitment to rationalism.• Unitarianism..• EX: Benjamin Franklin; Thomas Jefferson.(4)Deists.• David L. Holmes: “[Thomas] Paine and other left-wing Deists found the Bible apastiche of magic, superstition, irrationality, pre-scientific thinking, and bloodthirstyethics.”• EX: Thomas Paine; Ethan Allen; James Monroe.The Founding Fathers:Four Religious OrientationsIssue Orthodox Liberal Rationalistic DeistsChristians Christians Theists1. The Bible is divinely-inspired Yes Yes / No No No2. God is an eternal, transcendent, and personal Being Yes Yes Yes Yes / No3. Belief in the Trinity Yes No No No4. Belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ Yes No No No5. Belief in the incarnation, atonement, and resurrection Yes No No No6. Jesus Christ is the spiritual Savior of humanity Yes Yes / No No No7. Belief in miracles Yes Yes / No No No8. Belief that God answers prayer Yes Yes Yes / No No9. Belief that God intervenes in human affairs Yes Yes Yes No10. Belief in divine judgement and the reality of hell Yes Yes Yes / No No11. Active involvement in a Christian church Yes Yes Yes / No No12. Participation in the Lord’s Supper / Holy Communion Yes No No No13. Supported the ideals of civil religion Yes Yes Yes YesA General Assessment.• The deistic influence.• Mark Noll: “The God of the founding fathers was a kindly deity, more like the Godof 18 th century deism or 19 th century Unitarianism than of the early Puritans or laterrevivalists. This God had made the world an orderly and understandable place. Hewas ‘nature’s God,’ as the Declaration of Independence put it, who had createdhumankind with nearly infinite potential. The men who put the nation together weresincere moralists and great humanitarians. They were entirely convinced that humanexertion and goodwill could make America into a nearly ideal place.... What DanielBoorstin, a former librarian of Congress, once wrote about Jefferson and his friendsapplies more generally to most of the founders: they had found in God what theymost admired in humanity.”
A History of Christianity in America • Part VII: Faiths of the Founding Fathers 3Orthodox ChristiansJohn Witherspoon (1723-94).• Presbyterian minister and president of the College of New Jersey (Princeton).• The only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence.• Major influences:• John Knox.• John Locke.• Clerical statesman.• “The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men” (1776).• Service in the Continental Congress.Samuel Adams (1722-1803).• Political radical and a theological conservative.• “Father of the American Revolution” and “the last ofthe Puritans.”• Religious heritage.• Major influences:• Jonathan Edwards.• John Locke.• Political activist.• Christian moralist.• Governor of Massachusetts.• Congregational sacralist.• Defender of the Christian faith.Samuel AdamsJohn Jay (1745-1829).• A reluctant revolutionary.• Christian statesman.• Evangelical Episcopalian.• Social reformer.• Christian sacralist.Elias Boudinot (1740-1821).• A product of the Great Awakening.• Christian statesman.• A Christian apologist.John JayPatrick Henry (1736-99).• Evangelical Anglican.• A man of contradictions.• Promotion of Christian sacralism.• The Age of Revelation (1801).Elias BoudinotPatrick Henry
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7 Faiths of the Founding Fathers - Perimeter Church

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